


Give Me a Sign

by Adi_Black



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Community: homesmut, Hurt/Comfort, Kink Meme, M/M, Sober Gamzee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-03
Updated: 2012-10-03
Packaged: 2017-11-15 12:49:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/527495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adi_Black/pseuds/Adi_Black
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the Homesmut kink meme. Originally posted <a href="http://homesmut.livejournal.com/5183.html?thread=37560639">here</a>. Prompt is <a href="http://homesmut.livejournal.com/5183.html?thread=2623295#t2623295">here</a>.</p><p>Sober!Gamzee rapes Karkat and it's up to Sollux to try to put his normally irate friend back together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give Me a Sign

**Author's Note:**

> As stated in the summary I originally wrote this as a kink meme fill probably almost a year ago and only got around to posting it about a few months ago because I thought I could add more to it. I couldn't. Maybe if I got into Homestuck again I could add a second part to this, but as it is the ending is sort of hopefully bittersweet. 
> 
> Title was a spur of the moment agonizing decision as I never had one when I posted so I flipped through my ipod and that was that. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading and hopefully you enjoy the story!

Gamzee had been splattered in indigo and red when they had found him. He had been grinning like a maniac and it had taken all of them to subdue him(Sollux's powers had been extra-helpful) and now Tavros and Kanaya were force-feeding him pies. They weren't sure exactly what was going on with him but the lack of pies and his now warped personality were the only connection they could think of.

Once they had gotten Gamzee under control their minds went to the red. Karkat. Obviously something had happened between them, and judging by the ratio Karkat had lost.

Leaving Kanaya and Tavros with Gamzee the rest split up to find their lost leader. Every once and awhile they would contact each other on Trollian to pass along their progress, or lack thereof.

Reaching yet another fork in the hallway Sollux sighed anxiously hoping they would find Karkat soon. A few steps down the left hall Sollux was startled by a loud honk when he stepped on a horn. His heart leapt, maybe he was close, and he barely resisted contacting everyone else. For all he knew it didn't mean anything yet.

As he continued he started looking more carefully and swallowed when he saw a few drips of red on the floor. There was also a crack in the wall as if someone had hit it with a lot of force and more red next to that. The rest of the hall was like that, random splatterings and drops of Karkats mutant blood and once and awhile a few drips of indigo. He was too worked up to even think about contacting the others now and he hadn't realized he was almost running until he heard a soft whine and slid around the corner, stopping dead at what he saw.

Red and indigo. Too much. A small pool in the hallway and when Sollux gasped he caught the specific musky smell of genetic material. Swallowing as his stomach sunk further he heard another small sound and tore his eyes away from the colors scanning the hallway. He didn't have to look far.

Karkat was a little past the pool, mostly naked except tatters of his shirt. He had scratches all over him and as Sollux walked numbly forward he could see more details. There were deep claw punctures by his hips and bite marks near his neck and down his back, interlaced with more scratches. Sollux winced when his friend whimpered again and curled up slightly, his shifting letting the psionic see the inside of his thighs coated in what was obviously more of his blood and Gamzees genetic material.

Apparently having heard him behind him Karkat stiffened and turned over quickly to see him, half sitting up. He was biting his lip, drawing blood and obviously trying to hold back a sound of pain. They stared at each other a few moments, Sollux taking in more scratches and bite marks and, _gog_ , more indigo. The psionic hoped it was just blood from Karkat biting the Juggalo or else he wasn't sure if he could stop himself from killing the clown next time he saw him.

Finally Karkat broke the silence. "Sollux?"

 _Jegus_ , if that wasn't the most pathetic sound the yellow-blood had ever heard. Kneeling down next to him he responded, "Yeah, KK, it'th me."

"Sollux, I...he..." Karkat trailed off, tears forming in his eyes and the Gemini felt another rush of anxiousness.

"Gamzee, he..." Karkat couldn't continue and the tears escaped his eyes making twin trails of red down his face.

When the Cancer broke down and started sobbing it shook Sollux out his shock(his shock? What about KK?) and did what he probably should have as soon as he found the horn.

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]

TA: ii found kk  
GC: WH4T? WH3R3? 1S H3 4LL R1GHT?!  
TA: on the left 2iide by kanaya2 respiite block. there2 a horn and 2tuff 2howiing where two go.  
GC: STUFF? >:? SOLLUX, WH4T H4PP3N3D TO K4RKL3S?  
TA: ju2t get over here and tell the other2 two go back two the computer lab.  
TA: and have tav and kanaya move gamzee  
GC: OK, F1N3, BUT WHY MOV3 G4MZ33?  
TA: becau2e ii dont want two kiill hiim yet

twinArmageddons [TA] stopped trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]

GC: WH4T?

xXx

By the time Terezi got to them Sollux had taken his shirt off and put it on Karkat. It was a little long, which was probably for the best now that he thought about it. Karkat had also either passed out or fallen asleep, the Gemini wasn't sure which. In fact he wasn't sure why he had told Terezi to come down here either. He probably should have taken Karkat to his respite block, made sure he was ok for the moment and told the others what had happened. Instead he had to ask the crazy law-obsessed troll to come help him.

When he saw her come around the corner her mouth was in a thin frown. "This does not smell good, Sollux." she said. "There is a lot of grape and cherry but it's very sour."

"It would be," Sollux muttered to himself and said louder, "Help me get to my rethpite block. I don't think KK should be alone for awhile."

"Ah, Sollux needs help from the blind girl!" Terezi grinned, though it was much smaller than normal. "Well, let's go, I need to examine the evidence."

"There'th not much to exthamine, it'th all pretty obviouth what happened." Sollux said as he picked up Karkat and they started toward the transporters.

"A good prosecutor looks at all-" Terezi started to say but was cut off.

"You don't have to keep going like thith, TZ. I know you're jutht ath pithed ath I am. Worried." Sollux sighed as they got to the transporter. "There wath thomthing weird going on with Gamzee and we all didn't thee it until it wath too late. I'm thtill mad ath hell at him but I need to take care of KK firtht."

Terezi sighed, "Yeah, you're right." she replied before transportalizing. Sollux waited a few seconds for her to get off the other platform before following. When they were both there they started walking again in silence.

They reached his door and Terezi opened it for him because his hands were full of Karkat and didn't want him to have to bother with his powers. He gave her a muttered 'thankth' and went to lay his unconscious friend on his bed but he hesitated slightly.

"Maybe I should give him a bath..." he trailed off, glancing at Terezi who shrugged. Sighing he lay down Karkat for now and sat next to him. Terezi came over and there was more silence before he spoke again.

"What should I do?"

"What do you mean?" she asked and he ran a hand through his hair.

"With KK. He won't jutht be all better onthe I give him a bath or bandage hith thcratcheth and biteth. We thtill have to deal with Gamzee. I don't even know if he'll remember what he did onthe he'th back on the thlime. Thith ith all hoofbeatht shit, why did thith happen?"

"I don't know. I'll go tell the others you'll be awhile and how Karkles is doing. You'll be fine though. What else are moirails for than to make things better?" she asked with a smile which Sollux tentatively returned before she left.

xXx

Getting Karkat in the ablution trap had been harder than he had counted on. In fact dragging around an unconscious person was harder than he had suspected, period. He briefly considered trying to wake Karkat up before starting the water but shrugged the idea off.

"How do I do thith?" he muttered, thinking after he had removed his shirt from the troll in the trap. If he just filled the trap the water would get dirty right away. Glancing around he saw the water hose and figured that would work. Getting a small towel he turned on the water and waited for it to heat up.

Carefully he propped Karkat up and ran the water down his back. Karkat twitched and groaned and Sollux winced, not sure if it was such a good idea for him to wake up now. Wetting the washcloth and setting the hose down he began to wash off some of the blood from the bites. He got done with his torso in that manner, sitting back for a moment. He saw Karkat twitch again and give a slight moan and hoped he was actually waking up this time.

Sollux really didn't want to have to wash between Karkats legs for the same reason he hadn't washed Karkats hair yet for fear of touching his horns. It was too personal. Softly biting his lip, careful not to cut himself with, as Karkat called them, his 'freaky retard teeth' he decided to just fill the trap and let him soak for awhile. Turning off the hose he opened the lower water spout to start filling.

Of course that was when Karkat woke up.

His eyes fluttered open and he looked confused for a moment, slightly dazed before his eyes opened wide. Sitting up straight he splashed a bit of water out of the trap and looked around frantically before he saw Sollux sitting there. Slightly less frantic though Sollux could see his pulse fluttering just under his skin he examined where he was and the state he was in. Seeing he was naked(still) a flush rose to his face and he curled up on himself(again).

"Where am I?" he asked softly and Sollux mentally winced at hearing his voice so soft and timid.

"My rethpite block. I wath giving you a bath, I didn't think you would mind that much." the Gemini replied and Karkat swallowed.

"Oh." There was silence for a moment before Karkat spoke again, his voice wavering. "W-where's Gamzee?"

"I don't know," Sollux replied before he could think and was treated to Karkat starting to hyperventilate. "Wait, calm down, KK! I meant that he'th with Tav and Kan, I had them move him out of the computer lab tho I wouldn't thee him when I went later."

It was still a few minutes before Karkat got his breathing under control though it was still rough. Sollux handed him a small towel and turned off the water since it was getting high. The Cancer looked at the towel blankly for a few moments before he seemed to realize what it was for. Slowly uncurling he did a quick once-over where Sollux had already cleaned before washing his face. Putting his hands down he looked at the water, which was just slightly tinged indigo from where it was coming off his thighs.

"Do you know what he did to me Sollux?" he suddenly asked to the surprise of the other troll in the room. Karkat waited for him to shake his head before he continued, "He chased me. Herded me down the halls with honks until he got me where he wanted me." he moved a hand up next to one of his horns and Sollux noticed his hair was slightly matted with what must have been his blood.

"He found me. He caught me. Gamzee used his stupid fucking 'useless' clubs and he...he..." Karkat trailed off, tears again coming to his eyes, "He made me get down, on my knees..." he swallowed, looking sick, "He made me swallow-" he broke off, gagging.

Sollux quickly moved when Karkat lunged out of the ablution trap, half leaning on the side half leaning on the load gaper as he heaved again and threw up.

Sollux felt a cold rage grip him as he saw it was indigo. More genetic material. How long had Gamzee and KK been alone for him to do this to his moirail? It hadn't seemed like that long when they noticed both of them were gone and something weird was going on.

Karkat slid back into the tub limply and flipped the drain switch with his toes making Sollux look at him questioningly.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking a shower." Karkat replied shortly and Sollux nodded slowly.

The trap drained and neither of them moved. There was awkward silence for a minute before Karkat spoke again, "Are you going?"

"What?"

"Are you seriously fucking going to stand there and watch me?" Karkat spat out and Sollux felt a twinge of annoyance.

"Thorry for being a bit contherned," he muttered and Karkat sighed in defeat and when he spoke again Sollux almost wished he hadn't said anything because his voice was pitiful again.

"I just want to be alone for awhile, all right?" Karkat said quietly. "I won't hurt myself or do anything drastic or what the fuck ever like you probably think I'll do the minute you leave. Go...tell the others or something, I'll be all right by myself."

Sollux looked at him for another minute before sighing, "Whatever you thay. I'll be back thoon though." Karkat looked like he was about to protest but bit his lip instead. "I'm just going to tell them thome of what happened so they thtop pethtering me, I have about a million methageth." After another pause to see if Karkat would say something Sollux sighed again and left.

xXx

Sollux had a headache as soon as he transportalized to the computer lab. He had quickly glanced through his messages and they were mostly the same.

")(ow is Karkrab?"

":33*prowls around unhappily* How is it pawsible Gamz33 would do that?"

"wwhat happened wwhat is takin so long"

"uH, kANAYA SAID TO TELL YOU gAMZEE, uH, gAMZEE IS ALMOST BACK TO NORMAL,"

Well that last one was interesting at least. He would have to ask if he remembered anything later, but now to pacify the underlings.

The underlings that were currently giving him a splitting headache. He couldn't even understand what any of them were saying with all of them talking and the voices in his head that had decided to make a resurgence. He only put up with this for a few moments before he let a mood swing take over.

"Everyone shut the hell up!" he yelled and there was immediate silence. "Thank you."

"Is it true what Terezi said the Highblood did?" Eqius asked, sweating lightly.

"Yeth." Sollux answered shortly and Equius looked uncomfortable.

"How is Karkrab doing?" Fefri asked timidly and Sollux sighed. During his moment of silence the others looked at each other anxiously, wondering what he was going to say. Some of them might not like Karkat all that much, but still what happened to him was horrible, worse than anything.

"He'th...I don't know. He wath taking a shower when I left." Sollux took a breath, "He theemth ok for now, but..." he trailed off with a shrug and a couple of the gathered trolls nodded. They understood it might take awhile for what happened to really sink in.

"What are we goin' to do about Gamzee?" Eridan finally asked and though Sollux felt his rage flare up again he remained silent and just shrugged.

Several of the trolls flinched when the transportalizer activated and Kanaya stepped off the platform.

"Gamzee is back to normal," she announced without prompting. Sollux opened his mouth to ask a question but she continued speaking, cutting him off, "His memory is quite hazy and he has the feeling he did something he really should not have, but can not remember exactly what it is."

At the announcement Sollux wasn't sure whether to be relieved or pissed off more. Gamzee was back, apparently, and the way to keep him un-crazy was to make sure he was always high on sopor. On the other hand he didn't remember what he had done to Karkat even though everyone _except_ him knew he had just committed one of the worst crimes in Troll society.

Sollux was just working out something to say when his phone made a noise. Seeing as the only two trolls not there who would have reason to message him were Tavros and Karkat and both would have something important to say he checked. The others watched him reading whatever it said, an anxious frown on his face as he replied before putting it away.

"That wath KK, I need to go." he said shortly, taking off his glasses.

Everyone took a few steps back nervously as he started glowing, levitating a few feet in the air before vanishing in a flash of purple.

There was silence for a few moments before Eridan spoke up.

"Did any of you know he could do that?"

xXx

Karkat gasped when Sollux appeared in the room. It was one thing to be told someone was going to teleport directly to the room and another to actually see it. He also hadn't expected Sollux to be ready to drop everything and go the second he messaged him.

After quickly getting his bearings again and putting his glasses back on Sollux located Karkat. He was sitting on his bed, a roll of bandages and tape next to him. He had gotten into Sollux's clothes and was wearing a pair of his pants and what looked like one of his shirts was sitting next to him. The Gemini mentally cursed himself for not thinking about that. The slightly smaller troll had already taken care of some of his wounds but Sollux could see that he couldn't reach his back properly.

Not wanting to startle him again Sollux took a small step forward before asking "Do you want thome help with that?"

There was another unnaturally long pause that Sollux was beginning to get used to with this new KK before he answered, "Yes."

Sollux walked over and got on the bed, grabbing the bandages and was about to put one on when he noticed how tense Karkat was. Mentally sighing he put them down and moved so he was sitting next to Karkat and he could see him.

"You don't have to forthe yourthelf, KK. I can tell you don't like thith. I don't like how thith all ith tho fucking difficult." he took a breath, "I'm not going to hurt you KK. Jutht relaxth and let me put the bandageth on."

Sollux moved back so he was sitting behind Karkat again and waited. Finally Karkat let out a breath and his muscles relaxed. "I know. You may be a bipolar fuckass sometimes but I know. You would never really hurt me."

Sollux smiled.

xXx

The next few days were a learning experience for everyone. Sollux had brought Karkat some of his movies so he could keep himself occupied while the psionic was needed in the computer lab. When he came back everything was in the same place he had put them, including Karkat.

"It's not like in the movies." was all he said and Sollux sighed sadly and moved everything into a corner in case Karkat changed his mind.

Sollux also learned to never sneak up on Karkat, however unintentionally, and touch him. This lesson had of course been learned while they had company, even if it was just Terezi.

They had come into the room talking softly, Sollux had been telling her about some of the new quirks he had noticed and saw Karkat sitting next to his pile of romcoms. Assuming that Karkat had heard them(though everyone knows what they say about assuming) he walked over and tapped him in the shoulder. The response had been immediate and violent.

Karkat had, for lack of better words, freaked the fuck out. First he startled Sollux by flipping around with a sort of gasp and backing away quickly to the wall. As soon as his back hit the wall he threw his hands up, protecting his head with a whimpering plea that, though the Gemini couldn’t quite make it out, was most likely for him not to hurt him.

Sollux had stood back in shock for a moment, glancing back at Terezi whose mouth was an uncharacteristically grim line across her face. Sighing under his breath he knelt down, feeling a stab in his heart when Karkat continued to cower away from him.

"KK, calm down it'th jutht me." Slowly he reached out to try and move one of Karkats arms down to see his face but the Cancer tensed and whimpered as soon as he touched him making him back off. "Relaxth, I'm not going to hurt you.  You're thafe here, KK, nobody's going to hurt you." Sollux continued like that for awhile, trying to keep his voice calm and soft.

Slowly Karkat relaxed, his hands falling limp to the ground beside him and Sollux felt another surge of pity when he saw his moirails eyes were rimmed red from holding back tears. "S-sorry," Karkat said softly after getting himself under control.

"Don't worry about it," Sollux replied, "Are you ok now?"

Karkat nodded and Sollux backed up to let him stand.

xXx

By the time Karkat thought he might try venturing out of Sollux's respite block the yellow-blood had compiled a small list of rules dealing with his friend now.

Don't yell directly at him. No startling, either accidentally or on purpose. Don't talk about certain things(such as Gamzee or leaving the block) unless he brings them up first. He could be tapped or patted on the shoulder or back if he knew it was coming, but other than that no touching unless he starts it.

He had also noticed, slightly to his distress, that since the incident with Gamzee his thoughts had been becoming less moirail-ish and more potential matesprit-y. Sollux didn't want to tell Karkat though in case he freaked out again. He just wished he knew how long it would take until Karkat was able to interact more normally again instead of the flinchy, timid self he had become.

They had been sitting in Sollux's room, both on their respective mobile computers(Karkats crabtop had somehow managed to scuttle from KK's respite block to Sollux's) when Karkat suddenly stood up from where he had been sitting on a small pile of blankets near his romcoms(which Sollux still wasn't sure if he'd watched any of).

"I'm taking a shower." the Cancer announced and Sollux looked up at him for a moment. He looked slightly anxious but nothing too bad so he returned his attention to his computer.

"All right, I'll be here."

There was silence for awhile before he heard Karkat walk off and lifted his gaze again to see him vanish into the hygeineblock and close the door. He waited a couple minutes until he heard water running before setting down his computer and walking over to look at Karkats. He'd been watching him out of the corner of his eyes since he noticed the smaller trolls distress when typing a few minutes ago and wanted to know what he had been doing. Talking to someone, obviously, but who?

Flipping around the crabtop Sollux was shocked to see that Karkat had apparently been talking to _Gamzee_. He felt a flair of anger and frustration thinking back to when he had confronted the other troll. The indigo blood honesty hadn't remembered the majority of what happened, only generalities and feelings. He knew he had been angry, excited, and had a very large lust for violence.

His memory got weird around the time he remembered Tavros shoving a pie in his mouth while Kanaya held a chainsaw to his throat and being bound, practically cocooned to a chair. Gamzee had told him when he asked what the fuck was going on that the two other trolls in the room had exchanged a relieved glance, confusing him even more, when he started to feel the sting of cuts in his arms. He had been told what he did and he seemed sorry, upset about what he had done and while that had helped abate some of Sollux's murderous anger there was still some lingering dark feelings.

Shaking himself out of his memory he scanned through the conversastion, lingering on the last few messgages.

TC: ShIt BrO. I'm JuSt So MoThErFuCkInG sOrRy :o(  
CG: I KNOW  
CG: YOU KEEP SAYING THAT  
TC: I'm AlL mEaNiNg It AnD sHiT, bUt I rEaLlY cAn'T fUcKiNg ReMeMbEr AnYtHiNg.  
CG: I JUST  
CG: YOU KNOW  
CG: I DON'T THINK...I DON'T KNOW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF I SAW YOU.  
TC: I'm AlL uP aNd UnDeRsTaNdInG bRo. It WoUlD bE aWkWaRd AnD sHiT wItH yOu ReMeMbErInG aNd.  
TC: FuCk.  
TC: I jUsT dOn'T kNoW wHaT tO fUcKiNg SaY aNyMoRe :o(  
CG: JUST DON'T. DON'T SAY ANYTHING. FUCK. I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN TALK TO YOU ANY MORE.  
CG: I NEED TO GO. DON'T MESSAGE ME.

After that was a message saying Karkat had blocked Gamzee and Sollux frowned, looking at the hygeine block door. Obviously Karkat was still having problems, hell, it had only been maybe a week. It was hard to tell time here but some of the smaller scratches were almost healed and the worse ones, like the claw marks, weren't looking as nasty when they changed the bandages. Sollux just hoped that talking to Gamzee hadn't undone any of the(very slight) progress they had made so far.

Putting Karkats computer back where it had been Sollux went back to his bed but he wasn't thinking about doing anything any more. 

An hour or so later Sollux noticed Karkat hadn't come out of the hygenine block yet. Thinking about it he also realized he hadn't heard water running recently either.

Frowning he stood up, a familiar anxiousness in his acid sack. Setting down his computer Sollux got up, padding to the door connecting to the hygeine block. He quietly put his hear to the door listening and hearing the slight sound of an appendage trailing through water. A little relieved yet still anxious about what his friend was doing Sollux knocked softly. 

"KK, are you all right in there?"

Silence then a sigh. "Yeah, I'm fine." more water splashing. "I guess you could come in if you want."

Sollux hesitated a moment thinking over the offer. He wasn't sure if he should but it was so rare that KK offered a chance to really _speak_ with him(and Sollux knew that's what it was) that turning down the invitation would probably do more harm than good. After what seemed like forever but really was only a few seconds the Gemini responded. "All right, I'm coming in."

Entering Sollux saw Karkat laying in the ablution trap, bubbles covering the top of the water so nothing was visible below it. Closing the door behind him Sollux sat on the closed lid of the load gaper. There was silence for a bit before Karkat spoke.

"I want to go to the computer lab tomorrow."

Sollux looked at him, startled. "Why?"

Raising an eyebrow at his exclamation Karkat replied, "I can't just stay away fucking forever. I need to go back some time and tomorrow is as good as any, so, why the fuck not?"

Shrugging Sollux said, "I gueth. It ith your dethision after all." He wanted to to say something else but stopped himself instead finishing with, "Are you going to thtay the whole time?"

Karkat shrugged, shifting in the water and said quietly, "I can try."

xXx

End


End file.
